Samir Chantre, a Brazilian jiujitsu instructor who was returning from a flight from Brazil at the time, said in a telephone interview with The Times that the incident occurred about 2 p.m. outside the international terminal.

When West exited the airport, Chantre said, "five photographers started shooting pictures of him and one of them was over the microphone and was saying stuff to him," Chantre said.

According to Chantre, West "seemed like he was getting offended" and eventually ran after one of the photographers.